Heartbreaker: A Filthy Dirty Love Novel

Eric exhaled deeply and leaned back in his chair, watching her carefully. “Did they discover we have a close relationship? I know sometimes the men can be a bit—”

“No.” She shook her head. “It’s not that.”

“Then what exactly is the problem?”

“Well…” She lifted her paper cup in her hand and took a quick sip of her coffee, pausing the conversation, trying to think up a good excuse. She didn’t want to out Maddox to Eric, fearing he’d be reprimanded. “I’ve become involved with someone there, and while it’s not affecting my performance now, I fear that it might in the future.”

“You’ve gotten involved, hmm?” Eric remarked with a slow building smile. “How about we don’t beat around the bush and say it for what it is—you’ve been secretly dating Maddox Hunt.”

Joss nearly spit her coffee out of her mouth and began coughing.

“Please don’t die in my office,” Eric mused. “Your father would never forgive me.”

“You knew about us?” She wiped her mouth and barely managed, “Why haven’t you reprimanded me and suspended him?”

“First, you both have been very discreet. I haven’t heard a single whisper about the two of you dating,” Eric replied. “Secondly, while the department frowns upon these types of things, unless I have to intervene, I don’t. No one can control who they fall in love with.”

She blinked, shaking her head to clear the confusion in it. “Okay, wait, hold on, I need a minute. This isn’t what I expected to happen here.” Eric chuckled, and she blinked, processing. Then she asked, “How do you know I’ve been seeing him?”

“Before I answer that, since your father would want me to tell you this, let me remind you that you need to be careful with these types of things,” he said sternly from behind his desk, being the imposing man he was. “News of affairs like this has a way of getting around stations like wildfire. You don’t want something like this hanging over you. I’ve seen it before. Every promotion is tainted. Every award polluted.”

“Yes, sir, I know,” she agreed, well aware of those concerns from the very beginning. “Hence the reason I’m here. But please tell me how you knew we were seeing each other.”

“Maddox told me.”

She sensed the color draining from her face as the world tumbled around her. The telephone on Eric’s desk rang, and he held up an index finger then answered the phone. “Yes. Yes. All right. Please hold any other calls. Thank you, Beth.” He hung up the phone and explained, “Maddox came to see me at home last night, but to be honest, I had already suspected something might be on going between you two.”

“Why?”

Eric picked up a pen, tapping the tip against his desk. “I saw you two in an intimate conversation outside the pub at the retirement party.”

Her cheeks warmed, waiting for him to add, and I saw Maddox kiss you. When those words never came, she managed, “Why are you being so…okay with all of this?” she wondered her thoughts aloud.

Eric leaned back in his seat, his chair squeaking beneath him before he addressed her again. “Because some rules, Joss, don’t even make sense to those who must enforce them.”

She blinked again. “Well, I guess, thank you for that.”

“You’re family. I would have done the same for Lana if she’d been in a similar situation.” He hesitated then, and with his head cocked, he added, “But tell me, have things gone south with you and Hunt, is that what this is all about?”

“Not south, just ended,” she explained as best she could.

Eric’s lips thinned. “Was he respectful?”

“Yes, very,” Joss said with a chuckle, not minding Eric’s protective side. She didn’t see anything wrong with having some good guys looking out for her. “I’ve got nothing bad to say, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Eric regarded her for a long moment, continuing to tap the pen against his desk. “I’m glad to hear that since last night I offered Hunt the position of captain in the east and he accepted the promotion. He’ll be moving to the east by the end of the week.”

Her stomach roiled, and all the things she thought she knew and thought she’d figured out didn’t matter anymore. If that were true, and the work issue between them no longer remained, he obviously didn’t feel as attached as she did.

She guessed she should have known that. Even if she was mad at herself for feeling this little moment of pity when she hoped he might have felt the same way she did. Emotions were funny things that sometimes she wished she could tell to fuck off. “Did he take the promotion because of our relationship?” she asked.